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Fear Not Homeschooling

“Fear not,” Pastor Joby said over and over again during this morning’s message. What are my fears? I asked myself. As a homeschool mom, doubts do creep into my heart. I wrestle with questions like, Will my children turn out okay? Will they really excel academically? Will they reach their full potentials or be limited by their homeschool experience? Will I be able to teach them through the years even if I’m not an educator? Will they know how to relate to others without being perceived as “weirdos”? Will they become the people God wants them to be and achieve life success?

He wasn’t speaking this message for homeschooling families, but I was encouraged by what he shared about fear. His title was No God, know fear. Know God, no fear.

Knowing God conquers fear. He is the antidote and answer to every fear we have. This is why he calls himself, “I AM.” He is the “I am” for whatever we need, whenever we need him. For a homeschool mom, this translates to him saying…

I am your patience.

I am your joy.

I am your intelligence.

I am your creativity.

I am your sustainer.

I am your confidence.

I am your partner.

I am your provider.

I am your courage.

I am your hope.

I am your peace.

I am the one who called you and Edric to do this and I am going to make sure you succeed.

I am going to help you be the parents you need to be to effectively raise your children.

As I took in the message and personalized it, I was reminded of this – homeschooling is a life of faith. I have to fortify my mind with this reality. Otherwise, it is easy to get “tornadoed’ by the varying opinions and perceptions of onlookers. Some may call what we are doing radical and counter-culture. Some may think it novel and progressive. Some may think it risky and crazy. Others may think, “Wow, that’s cool but it sounds impossible for our family.”

Whatever statements may be made about homeschooling, it needs to come down to a faith-decision. What does God say about teaching our children? It is our responsibility (Deuteronomy 6:5). So yes, it may be radical, counter-culture, novel (at least in Asia), progressive, risky, crazy, and seemingly impossible. But we are accountable to God for how we will respond to his word. If we live by faith, the impossible becomes possible. 2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us, “For we live by faith, not by sight.”

Once parents say, “Okay, Lord, we will homeschool in obedience to you and we will do it in faith,” God performs mini-miracles and even big ones in the family. I’ve seen families who supposedly “needed” a second income, give up the second income so that the mom could homeschool the kids, and they have done just fine financially. I’ve talked to parents who never thought they could teach their children and decided to homeschool because God confirmed they should. And they tell me things like, “Joy, it’s really amazing that my child is doing so well and I’m really enjoying homeschooling.”

Sure, there are stories of those who struggle through it and even wonder if they will homeschool the next year. But, over and over again, these same people who struggle with doubt, keep at it in faith. God doesn’t promise that teaching our children is going to be an easy decision to make or something easy to keep doing. What he does promise is to equip and empower us when we obey him.

Pastor Joby said today, “God’s commandments are always his enablement.” This is absolutely true. He does this for every single family that homeschools in faith.

A couple months ago, I wrote an entry entitled “Homeschooling is Not One of the 10 Commandments.” In this post, I talked about a mom-friend who had decided to send her daughter back to the conventional school. Well, I’m very happy to say that she called me a month or two after we had our conversation and said, “Joy, we’ve decided to homeschool again this year.” She talked about how God had spoken to her and confirmed that she should continue homeschooling. When I ran into her recently, her face was glowing. From someone who, just six months ago, was feeling overwhelmed and discouraged about homeschooling, she is pressing on with renewed energy and determination.

What’s my point? The fears parents have about homeschooling are natural and founded. We go through our moments of doubt, especially self-doubt. But if we are willing to listen to God’s call and respond in faith no matter what our fears may be, we will experience how amazing it is to be upheld by our great, “I AM.” Homeschooling is a life of faith and that’s the best kind of life to live!

“For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’” Isaiah 41:13

8 thoughts on “Fear Not Homeschooling”

Hi Joy! Your topic today turned out to be something I really needed to hear. No wonder God kept reminding me about your blog while I was praying about whether to homeschool or not. I’m not sure if you remember me, but I had commented awhile back saying that my husband and I were seriously contemplating, if not, completely decided to homeschooling our 3yr old boy. But honestly, as he is nearing 4yrs old, which I’m told is the most ideal age to start homeschooling, fears started to come in full force in my mind whether I’ll be up to it, if I’m capable enough, etc. God continues to reassure me though that I just need to take it one day at a time and He will be with me every step of the way. So I’d really like to attend a homeschooling orientation to gather up some more information about the specifics. If it’s not too much trouble, could you please inform me when the next one will be? I tried going to TMA website but it’s undergoing a system upgrade. I sent a message through your facebook page also to be sure. =)

Hi Karen! Here is Girlie Argosino’s number: 0917-800-8250. She is the best person to get in touch with regarding TMA Homeschool activities. She runs the LEARN program that supports parents who homeschool. 🙂 Hope this helps! Please let me know if you are able to get the information you need.

Hi Joy! TMA replied via Facebook already but thanks so much for her number. Will surely get in touch with her if I have any more concerns. =) May God continue to use you and your family as an instrument to be a blessing to many more families. =)

I want to homeschool my child of 3 years old. But i live in Bacolod. I tried to email TMA, they gave me a skype ID and added it, because I want to attend the orientation for homeschooling. I don’t know if it’s possible to do i here in Bacolod though, but am really eager to do it. What do you suggest I do? Please enlighten me.

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TeachwithJoy is a product of marriage, family, and love. This site is not about perfection, it is about my passion for sharing everything that I have learned from both failures and triumphs. Join me in my journey through married life, parenthood, and homeschooling as we discover the encouragement, joy, and inspiration of God’s grace.